Upon Wings Of Change

Chapter 38

I yawned as we left yet another building. No trade ships required an inspection today, so Taureen was patrolling the city with Tran and Vick in tow as per usual. Needless to say, it was a slow day.

"Tasha?" I heard a groggy mindvoice.

"Tom, glad to hear you again. How is Serena holding up?"

I got a watery mental picture of the scarlet dragonet blinking sleepily at Tom with her chest and sides in one solid cast. "She is awake, but she still can't mindspeak."

"From your picture, I assume that you two aren't being separated by anything?"

He sighed in relief. "No, and I am grateful for that. We are in some sort of large glass cage though."

"It is probably to keep her from trying to move and injuring herself further. Once I was mostly mobile, the cage door was left open. I highly suspect that Alec will follow the pattern that Taureen did."

He snorted mentally. "Well, you are wrong on some accounts then. This overgrown green-skinned behemoth is already insisting that I take food from his hands. He leaves common stuff in a bowl, but holds the good stuff."

I was amused at his indignation, although I had a pretty suspicion as to what Tom would do for his injured mate. I impishly inquired, "Did you go over to get some of it?"

I could feel his embarrassment. "Somehow that guy got his hands on sunburst berries, and you know how much Serena loves those..."

With Serena injured, Tom would do his best to care for her as much as he could – even if it included approaching an alien for delicacies to ensure that she ate. I chuckled. "Oh, I know. I remember the first time Taureen showed me some. He still uses them occasionally in training."

With a sigh, he changed the topic. "How long have we been incommunicado? The cage was covered for some time, and I lost track of time considering how drugged I was."

"Four days."

He grumbled. "I still have a few words to exchange with you about tricking me into eating that fruit."

I kept my voice innocent. "That was good fruit, wasn't it? Even better than sunburst berries."

He was indignant. "That guy carried me around for almost two solid days while I was limp like a rag doll."

"Been there, done that. I know how you feel. I assume Serena was within sight?"

He sighed. "Yes, and he put me beside her if he wasn't holding me."

I glanced down as Taureen's radio summoned him to the East Wall. A crawler had been spotted outside the wall, and they wanted to locate it before it got into the city.

"Well, duty calls. I have a crawler to track down. Talk to you later."

I felt his mental hiss at the thought of a crawler. Even halfway drugged, the mere thought of a crawler or sicora was enough to get our blood boiling. Taureen jumped onto a shuttle that rose into the air before heading towards the area that we had been summoned to.

       I flew low above the ground as I tested the air. I finally found the scent trail again and banked to follow it. This crawler had a love of going under plants that even I wouldn't go under. It made tracking it fun, to say the least.

Taureen stuck close by, and I was actually grateful for it. We were outside the wall, and I remembered all too clearly some of the creatures that roamed around out here. Some of these animals had been responsible for the death of several of my dragonet friends before we moved into the central park.